Navy Allows Chaplains to Perform Same-Sex Unions

The Office of the Chief of Navy Chaplains is now allowing same-sex couples in the Navy to get married in Navy chapels by Navy chaplains under condition that same-sex marriage is legal in the state where the ceremony is to be performed, according to a report by cnsnews.com.

Rear Admiral Mark L. Tidd, the Chief of Navy Chaplains, noted via a directive to the field the historic change now officially codified in a training manual, which had previously proscribed same-sex marriages on federal property.

“If the base is located in a state where same-sex marriage is legal, then the base facilities may be used to celebrate the marriage,” the admiral’s directive states.

“Regarding chaplain participation, consistent with the tenets of his or her religious organization, a chaplain may officiate a same-sex, civil marriage: if it is conducted in accordance with the laws of the state which permits same-sex marriages or union; and if the chaplain is, according to applicable state and local laws, otherwise fully certified to officiate that state’s marriages,” the directive concludes.